The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-19
THE TRAIN DISPATCHER.
A Man who Holds the Life OF Every
Passenger in His Hand.

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The travelling public have long been
wont to beStow approval upon railway
engineers for the self-sacriicing spirit
which they exhibit when the lives en-
trusted to their care are endangered,
and in the annals of the rail these oc-
currences are SO frequent that passen-
gers generally picture the man at the
throttle of the locomotive as hero by
virtue of his position. These opin-
ions are deservedly held, and it would
be the grossest injustice to detract
from the honor which self-abnegation
always merits; but there is a class of
railway employees, almost entirely I'M
known TO passengers, whose .Hsponsi-
bilty is so much greater and whose
slightest omission might jeopardize
the lives of people on trains more than
any oversight on the part of conductors
or engineers, that il is indeed strange
they are so seldom mentioned in the
public prints.
This class is the train dispatchers,
whose every order is implicitly obeyed
by trainmen; while the crew of one
train is responsible for the movement
of that train alone, the dispatcher holds
in his hands the lives of every individu-
al on every train on the road, and OH
a road having large traffic the duties
imposed on him are very great and
arduous
His position in the railway service is
unique; were all trains running on
time and provided for on the period
ical time table issued by the company,
he would have no duties TO performs;
but trains will get delayed and occasions
will arise requiring extra trains, or
trains without any specified time or
rights to be run over the road, and
then his services are necessary to avoid
hours of delay.
All trains on railroads are divided
in classes, according to their import
ance; generally two. passenger and
freight; and all trains of one class
running in specified direction have
the right TO the road, or need keep no
lookout for trains of the same or q
lower claes running in the opposite
direction. Thus it is assumed that on
a certain railroad trains running east
ward have the right of way over trains
running westward then an east-bound
passenger train can run the whole
length of the road in entire disregard
of all trains; another passenger train
going west need only look out for the
east-bound passenger train, while the
freight trains must keep out of the
way of both passenger trains and of
the freight train which is running in
the direction prescribed as having the
right of road.
Every one understands that all trains
are chartered, or have time given for
passing each station, which time can in
no instance be anticipated, and hence
all train men know where all other
trains ought to be at any particular mo-
ment if on time; but as trains fire.
quently and generally get late, the
train Of inferior class must have its
movement expedited by some extran-
eous cause, or it may be delayed for
hours awaiting train that may have
been wrecked or has been kept back
for some other of many causes. Then
the duties Of the train dispatcher are
of Importance. He will probably give
an order to the delayed train by tele-
graph directing it not to 60 beyond q
certain place which he thinks it can
reach without difficulty, and he directs
the opposing train to proceed to the
same place and there pass the other
train, and in that manner the trains are
enabled TO pass each other without any
delay to either. His great RESPONSE
bility consists In that he may have doz-
en- other trains in his charge at the
same time. and in directing one train
to go beyond its usual place to meet
another he may neglect to give an or
der to the second train, and in such an
event a collision would probably en-
sue, much property be destroyed and
probably many lives be lost.
1t win readily be seen that the slight
est mistake Of train dispatcher might
cause serious results; and in this re-
spect his responsibility is probably
orraator than that Of any ofher fndivid-